I have a problem that I thought I'd fixed about 4 times but it keeps
recurring and is making me quite narked.

When it rains a steady stream of water falls through the air and lands on
the soil about 8in from the wall. The source is a gap in the guttering. The
gap is where 2 adjacent pieces of standard plastic half-pipe meet (not at
right-angles, but "in-line" along the top of a straight stretch of wall).
The pieces don't join directly but both sit on and clip on to a very short
piece of half-pipe which acts as a sort of "junction" piece. (In fact the
junction contains a descender pipe.)

When the gap appears, it looks like one of the long pieces has "drifted
away" horizontally from from the junction piece. With quite a bit of effort
and grunting, I pull it back horizontally towards the junction, where it
seems quite happy to sit (and I even clip it in). But after a while the long
piece drifts away again! How can this happen? I have to exert and grunt
quite a lot to get the piece back in, so what force can take it out again?
Immediately after I've put it back, there seems to be no "spring" action
that wants to take it out again - it seems to come out slowly over time.

Possible bodge solutions include aralditing or screwing the drifting piece
to the junction, perhaps? And why does it happen?

TIA
Cheers
Richard

Richard Clay wrote:

Possible bodge solutions include aralditing or screwing the drifting piece
to the junction, perhaps? And why does it happen?

I would guess that it works its way out as it expands and contracts
with temperature. I've noticed that the longer lengths of our plastic
guttering 'tick' quite noticeably when the sun shines on them which
suggests they're expanding quite significantly.

I think I'd go for screws (or even some cable ties through holes) to
fix it.

--
Chris Green )

"Richard Clay" writes:
When the gap appears, it looks like one of the long pieces has "drifted
away" horizontally from from the junction piece. With quite a bit of effort
and grunting, I pull it back horizontally towards the junction, where it
seems quite happy to sit (and I even clip it in). But after a while the long
piece drifts away again! How can this happen? I have to exert and grunt
quite a lot to get the piece back in, so what force can take it out again?
Immediately after I've put it back, there seems to be no "spring" action
that wants to take it out again - it seems to come out slowly over time.

A total guess, but it seems likely that it is caused by the daily
cycle of contraction and expansion due to warming from the sun. I
would have thought the expansion and contraction of a long piece of
guttering would be quite substantial and could well cause it to creep
over time and work its way out of this clip and through the other
clips.

Possible bodge solutions include aralditing or screwing the drifting piece
to the junction, perhaps? And why does it happen?

I'd probably try screwing it in place as a first effort.

--
Ben Edgington
Note that email to is discarded. However,
mail to "ben" at this address may be read by a human being.
http://www.edginet.org/

In article , Ben
Edgington writes
"Richard Clay" writes:
When the gap appears, it looks like one of the long pieces has "drifted
away" horizontally from from the junction piece. With quite a bit of effort
and grunting, I pull it back horizontally towards the junction, where it
seems quite happy to sit (and I even clip it in). But after a while the long
piece drifts away again! How can this happen? I have to exert and grunt
quite a lot to get the piece back in, so what force can take it out again?
Immediately after I've put it back, there seems to be no "spring" action
that wants to take it out again - it seems to come out slowly over time.

A total guess, but it seems likely that it is caused by the daily
cycle of contraction and expansion due to warming from the sun. I
would have thought the expansion and contraction of a long piece of
guttering would be quite substantial and could well cause it to creep
over time and work its way out of this clip and through the other
clips.

This is exactly what causes it, our polycarbonate conservatory roof does
the same thing. Think this is why you don't get solvent weld gutters,
they always have rubber seals to allow some creep. Presumably the gutter
is gripped tighter by the clips at the far end than it is at the
junction.
--
Tim Mitchell

"Tim Mitchell" wrote in message
...

the same thing. Think this is why you don't get solvent weld gutters,
they always have rubber seals to allow some creep.

You might not be able to buy them, but I have got one.
And a metric/imperial bodge further along the wall.

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 12:21:28 -0000, Richard Clay wrote:

I have a problem that I thought I'd fixed about 4 times but it keeps
recurring and is making me quite narked.

When it rains a steady stream of water falls through the air and lands on
the soil about 8in from the wall. The source is a gap in the guttering. The
gap is where 2 adjacent pieces of standard plastic half-pipe meet (not at
right-angles, but "in-line" along the top of a straight stretch of wall).
The pieces don't join directly but both sit on and clip on to a very short
piece of half-pipe which acts as a sort of "junction" piece. (In fact the
junction contains a descender pipe.)

When the gap appears, it looks like one of the long pieces has "drifted
away" horizontally from from the junction piece. With quite a bit of effort
and grunting, I pull it back horizontally towards the junction, where it
seems quite happy to sit (and I even clip it in). But after a while the long
piece drifts away again! How can this happen? I have to exert and grunt
quite a lot to get the piece back in, so what force can take it out again?
Immediately after I've put it back, there seems to be no "spring" action
that wants to take it out again - it seems to come out slowly over time.

Possible bodge solutions include aralditing or screwing the drifting piece
to the junction, perhaps? And why does it happen?

TIA
Cheers
Richard


Some of the gutter systems have the pieces locked in place using notches in
the top edge of the gutter, which lock with a matching locator on the
fittings (including the support clips). It is possible that the gutters
have been put together without making the appropriate notches in the
gutter, so only friction is holding it together (not very well). Expension
and contraction in the sun will then pull it all apart.

In article ,
Richard Clay wrote:
[snip]
Possible bodge solutions include aralditing or screwing the
drifting piece to the junction, perhaps? And why does it happen?

It sounds a similar problem to one we with a 100ft long
guttering on our factory unit. The guttering lengths used
by the builders were too long, with not enough joints used
to cope with the expansion and contraction. Cut the long
gutter in half, push the guttering over (to close the joint
that leaks), and clip a new joint over the cut ends.

--
Tony Williams. Change "nospam" to "ledelec" to email.